Badgerland

Likewise! If you can message me when they're done I'd be interested in 1 or 2 (price depending!)

Yeah, tell me about it! In the past I've been lucky and found suitable individual trees in mixed woods that I work or shoot in. The good thing is that once I find one I can get an awful lot of basket bases out of a couple of logs that size!

Morning all. As title says I'm after a silver birch log or 2 for basket making. Ideally they need to be around 20-24 inch diameter (minimum of 18) and i can get away with lengths of 6 or 8 ft. Because they'll be cut to 8-10mm thick boards they need to be as straight and knot free as possible. I'm based mid-Wilts so really looking for something within reasonable distance.

I know what you're saying, but when applicable, I quite often deliberately leave some sapwood on my outdoor furniture so that over time it does rot away naturally. I like the way it ages compared to an edge that stays the same as the day I created it. Depends what the customer wants. In this case it's why I got him to go for chestnut rather than the oak his brother-in-law suggested. The one his b-in-law made (being a furniture designer?) was air dried oak with the bark left on. Didn't like to say too much about what I thought would happen to this over a short period outdoors. The sapwood on the chestnut is minimal anyway, but by the time I've replicated the edge effect he's after there won't be much left on there. Any that is left and does rot over time will help soften the overall effect. In 3–4 years he should have a nicely weathered set that looks like the image he gave me as a guide. That's the plan at least!

Apologies for the slow response to this. Grown up stuff (aka parenting/family duties) demanded my attention. I think you could be right there. My problem now is trying to replicate it on a single board without it looking like a poor copy. Reckon it'll be a combination of electric planer and powerfile. Glad I like a challenge. (Occasionally!)

Brilliant, Stere! Just googled Plum Pocket and it does look remarkably like it. In all my years of walking the hedgerows I've never come across it before so thanks for that. Whether it's a Blackthorn, Damson or Bullace is almost immaterial now that I know it's a fungal infection.

Hah! See, I hadn't thought of that as a possibility. It looks a bit too mechanical a cut to me for an adze though. Not really had any experience of using one, so would an adze give such a flat plane? Or would it be a bit more curved as the blade followed it's natural arch?

Been asked by my better half to go to them that know (or think they do) to see if anybody can identify this tree? She saw it about a month ago in a hedgerow beside a canal.

Afternoon all! I've been asked to make a rustic table and 2 benches and the client wants to have the edges treated like he saw on a bench outside a restaurant. If I get this right they should be seen in the pictures attached (hopefully!). The only thing is I can't figure out how they did it. My initial thoughts were they were made with a debarking tool (possibly on a chainsaw) like I think Logosol do. The other possibility is that they used an electric hand planer, but assuming the slab is only 2 inches thick the planer blade would only be about 2 inches wide. I thought most were 3 inches or widers. So, let's have your thoughts (on this topic before you all go freestyle!) on how it might have been done, cos I'm wearing a groove into the side of my head working it out!

Evening Mark. Pm sent.

Yeah, getting somebody in may well be the way to go. It's such a stunning piece of wood that for now I'd rather pay to get it milled and keep all the timber though. I may well sell it on later, but for now I'd prefer to keep my options open. I considered buying a 48 inch alaskan to do it myself, but by the time I buy a lo-pro bar and chain for my 661 it's starting to all mount up. Especially as I probably wouldn't ever use the combo again. The other option would be to quarter it and then slab it on my logosol farmers mill. The down side is that there's couple of strands of very rusty barbed wire through the side of the lower section. (Considering the age of the tree and the state of the wire on the outside I'd say there's a pretty good chance the wire has practically rotted on the inside but ...) With careful aligning I think it might be possible to miss it but it would be a risk. Personally I'd be willing to risk it myself as it's such a unique stick. The entire tree including the roots (which I dug out) were a mass of burr. The head scratching continues...

Most definitely! If it's been down for quite a while you'll probably find it's gone an oatmeal colour rather than the very pale colour if cut fresh and dried quickly. But for what it's worth in my opinion it's worth having a look. Wouldn't worry about the grub holes myself. Ti's all character!!! I've a substantial lump awaiting milling in the yard. But being almost 40 inch across it's too big for my saws so am still scratching my head over best way to go about it. However, I've already slabbed up most of the head wood – which brought a big smile to my face. If I've got this tech bit right, there should be attached a few pics of a small lump of it and a knife handle I've used it on. Should give you an idea of what it can look like. Be sure to post a few pics. Would be interested to see what it's like inside.

pm sent.

If it was for my own use I could live with welli as I quite like some of it's characteristics, but as it's for a paying customer my main concern with it is that the summer growth rings are so bloody soft that it's too easy to put dents and marks in it. Shame really cos I've a whole tree's worth!

I've been asked by a customer to quote for an outdoor table with benches. The table would need to be about 10 foot long and 3 foot wide. The idea is to sit the top on 2 old cast iron trestles. He's after natural edge on both sides of the table and possibly both sides of the benches. Partly down to cost, durability and stability, my initial thoughts were for either Larch or Cedar. I've quite a bit of Wellingtonia, but although it would be durable enough, I don't think it would stand up to the continued use without getting badly marked. Which other UK timbers would be worth considering? Is it pushing my luck to find slabs of this size anyway? Would I be better off getting 2 boards and joining them? What sort of price would I be looking at for timbers of this size? Any suggestions/thought would be much appreciated.

Thanks Paul. That's good to hear. Might be a viable alternative after all. Have to give it a go. Yeah, I've found with CB Willow the same thing can happen with fibers lifting. Usually (but not always) it can be sorted by simply turning it around and refeeding it. Sometimes, no matter which way it goes the thicknesser will just eat if up and spit out chunks, so in that instance I have to resort to the (very!) slow process of using the drum sander instead.

Tbh as I'm having such trouble sourcing CB Willow I was going to try WRC next. From the figures I was looking at yesterday it seems to be very close weight wise. Don't have any experience of using it, but I have supplied it to be used for cladding where it's been left with a sawn finish. Do you know how good a machine finish it will take, ie put trough a thicknesser?

Earlier lead turned into a dead end so i'm still looking for some cricket bat willow logs if anybody can help. Preferably within sensible distance of mid-wiltshire but if further afield not necessarily a problem.

You could possibly be right. But when every ounce counts it all adds up.

The trouble with smaller stuff is the processing time and effort involved. To make just one size of basket I need a range of slat widths, 1", 15/8", 1 7/16, 2" and 21/2". It's more efficient to cut larger pieces into billets the correct wide then resaw them all to the same thickness on the bandsaw. With smaller stuff it's more work to get it down to the various width billets and in addition there's increased potential for the slats curling before they can be used. I also have the same issue with getting hold of smaller material as larger stuff. In the past it's not proved that expensive as I'm only after 3 or 4 lengths at a time. These can often be sourced from trees that have been ring-barked by tree rats and so fall short of the required quality for Wrights. I've stated 5 foot as ideal but in the past I have happily taken shorter (around 4 foot) lengths. 5 foot sits better on my logosol farmers saw that's all.

Yeah, have tried tulip. Not keen on the colour though and compared to willow (or wellingtonia for that matter) it's still too heavy.

I couldn't possibly comment on cricket! (Well maybe suffice to say it's morris dancing without the bells!) No, not tried either Alder or Poplar. I've got some alder in the drying shed but it's so hard that I don't think I'd get the flex I need when making up the baskets. Although I do like the finish. Have used Poplar before for various other projects which were eventually treated with a coloured preservative, but as a bare wood, if I'm honest, I don't like the look of it. I've tried tulip as well but that suffers from the same issue.

Hi there Squaredy. Cricket bat willow isn't essential, but it is one of the better woods I've tried. I make a form of basket based on the old Devon splint baskets. (Have a look on my website www.greenmanwoodcrafts.co.uk) The problem with the originals were that by today's standards they're very heavy. In the past they'd have used them like buckets, ie put it on the ground then fill it. When you're good to go, pick it up and move it. Nowadays people want a basket that they can carry around more. So weight becomes an issue. Believe it or not, I've found Wellingtonia is not a bad substitute, but it does suffer from being rather soft whilst at the same time very brittle. Weight wise though it's spot on. (And you get one hell of a lot of it out of one tree!) Cricket bat willow is light, tough and flexible enough to make it easier to put the baskets together. Although I have found it a bit of a bugger to machine down to about 5 mm without it tearing.

Thanks Arbwork. I'll get in touch with them and see what can be arranged. Do you happen to know who the best person to contact is?

Afternoon all. As title says, I'm after a small quantity of clean cricket bat willow for basket making. 5 foot lengths are ideal but will consider others. Diameter can be between 12 to 20 inch. As I say, not a huge amount needed so not looking for a lorry load! Anybody out there got anything suitable? I'm based mid wilts - 7 miles from Devizes.